


XLVII

by PunkHazard



Category: Eyeshield 21
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-09
Updated: 2013-02-09
Packaged: 2017-11-28 18:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/677255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkHazard/pseuds/PunkHazard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're all adults now with adult responsibilities; but it's just not right for football players to miss the Super Bowl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	XLVII

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this quickly at like 4AM so it's a bit rough.

It's been a little over two years since his graduation; he's in the middle of a massive transfer and uproot to New York City, a cozy but modern apartment one subway stop away from Wall St. where he's secured a junior position at Morgan Stanley. Cushy benefits, and endless potential for upward movement.

But that's a job for another day. 

The president of the university still owes him one last favor. 

He's tapping into CBS's transmission networks (streaming sites always lag; Hiruma figured out a long time ago that hacking directly into broadcast stations is far more efficient), and when the high-definition projector Hiruma had installed in his senior year flickers to life and coverage of a tailgate party in New Orleans starts echoing throughout the room, he mutes the computer and sends out a draft text he's had prepared since the night before. 

The former Fires and Babels arrive sometime around 8 in the morning with enough breakfast and snacks for about a hundred people, most of it hauled in on the back of Musashi's truck. 

Kurita and Unsui start laying out paper plates, plastic utensils and disposable chopsticks. Mamori's roped Riku and Sena and Monta into helping set up rows of sports drinks, Pretz, chips and various dips, handmade onigiri and other snacks on a long table at the back of the room. Musashi troops in with several boxes of pizza balanced on his shoulder, Kid and Tetsuma at his flank with liter bottles of soda and iced tea under their arms. 

(Jumonji's working for Sapporo as an assistant marketing director; he'd volunteered to supply the beer and Kuroki'd brought inordinate amounts of tequila and vodka while Toganoh supplied the cups, ice and chasers. It's morning, but no one's invested enough in either team to be disappointed one way or another. It'll be a pain to hold off on them until dinner-- but some sacrifices have to be made if they want to see their teammates get trashed.) 

Other teams trickle in half an hour before opening ceremonies are due to start-- Akaba with his guitar, Julie behind him with her fringe sticking almost straight up after the ride on the back of his bike. They make a beeline for Kotaro, who's bent over the speaker system with a plate of salsa and Tostitos balanced precariously on the corner of the closest amp. The ground shakes when Gaoh arrives, Marco and Maria in tow. 

Habashira Rui and his band of delinquents make their entrance seconds ahead of Agon, who shoves the last few through the door with an impatient snarl. (Ikkyu shouts a quick _Excuse us!_ as they pass.) 

Yamato pats him on the shoulder and tells him to _Calm down a bit, Agon-shi, there's plenty of time before the game begins_ , which does absolutely nothing to cool him off. Taka trails in after with Karin and Achilles and Heracles, all four of them splitting to greet Monta, Hiruma and the Hah brothers, respectively. 

Former Ohjo Silver Knights and Doctor Fishes arrive at the same time (a cheerful reunion for Sakuraba and Takami); Kakei's back to visit his parents before he hops a plane back to Arizona so Mizumachi drags him and Kobanzame into the center of the lecture hall to loudly and emphatically announce their presence and imminent departure. 

Hiruma settles himself in the first row, remote control in hand, feet propped up on the desk in front of him. The rest of the crowd seems to arrange itself, with some variation, by position except for the former players milling around the food tables, and the twins settled in a distant corner with Ikkyu and Yamabushi. (The Saiyuki Trio and Sanzo are for some reason hanging around Karin-- which actually doesn't surprise Hiruma in the least.) 

>>

"Can't believe we're here for the Ravens and 49ers," Agon says just loudly enough to carry to the front of the room, "should've done this last year." 

"He's just upset the Giants didn't make the playoffs," Unsui says diplomatically, just before he dodges a swipe to the side of his head. "We finalized the contract last night." 

"Does that mean Agon-san's moving to New York?" 

"About fucking _time_ ," Agon crows from his perch on the table, feet braced against the back of a seat, but he's smirking. 

Yamabushi crunches a chip, washes it down with Pocari and pats him on the shoulder. "Congratulations." 

"Unsui-san, are you going with him?" 

"Yeah. I'm taking an associate position at a firm in Midtown." 

Ikkyu tugs on Unsui's sleeve, then turns an intense stare on his old teammate. "We get to crash at your guys' place when we visit, right, Unsui-san?" 

"Of course," Unsui replies at the same time Agon snaps, "Hell no," but Ikkyu's pretty sure that he's just joking. 

"Guys," Yamabushi interrupts, a little apologetically, "the game's about to start so I'm gonna go find the linemen." 

"Yeah," Ikkyu says cheerfully, vaulting over the table in front of them and heading for the center of the room where Monta's sitting in the center of a crowd. "I'm gonna go sit with the receivers!" 

"I'm supposedly here to speak to a client," Unsui says, voice dry, "since I wasn't about to take a sick day for the Ravens and 49ers." 

"That trash got you out of work?" 

(There's no malice in the way Agon refers to Hiruma-- not after four years on the same team. It's become as much of a term of endearment as 'Unko-chan' is, which Unsui's never taken personally anyway; they were eight and Agon simply never grew out of it.) 

"We do have some things to discuss, but yes." 

Agon snorts, then hops off the table and saunters over to Sena, who's penned in a tight cluster of former rivals and semi-pro players. 

(Sena's been speaking to scouts and recuiters since he graduated a year ago, in between X-league games; he doesn't like to brag but it's hard to keep a secret in a group as small and tight-knit as American football players in Tokyo. 

The Patriots have been his top choice for a while, and Unsui had recommended a colleague to handle contract offers-- the same one who'd negotiated a deal for Agon. Sena would've preferred if Unsui handled it all himself, but his old teammate said something about conflicts of interest and how it would advance his career faster if he got himself transferred to the U.S. which Sena doesn't totally understand but he'd taken Unsui's word for it. 

"Monta's being scouted, too," he says nervously, flashing the receiver an apologetic glance, but when the conversation shifts to him, Monta takes it with aplomb, chest swelling and posture straightening.) 

>>

"We need to talk about your portfolio," Unsui tells Hiruma as he approaches, and settles himself into the seat. 

"What about it?" 

"You'll be in pretty deep trouble for insider trading if you keep up some of these these gains in New York. Before you build a credible reputation, anyway." 

Hiruma cracks his gum, then levels a stare in Unsui's direction. "You think I'm insider trading?" 

"Well, I know you. I think you need to make your algorithm less effective." 

Hiruma snickers under his breath and turns the volume up on the game to drown out their voices from the rest of the crowd, right before he reaches into his backpack for a folder. "How's that gonna help in the fucking least, you fucking monk?" 

"The timing's too coincidental for a lot of your trades." Unsui flips the files open to a page of charts, then reaches into his own laptop bag for a sheet of Hiruma's trading record. "If they take you to court, you're going to have to end up making your code public. We could win this case, but it'll cost more than you stand to gain... is the message my supervisor told me to pass onto you." 

"You mean that you told him to tell you to pass onto me," Hiruma snorts. "Fine. I'll take a couple losses." 

Unsui nods, sees Musashi and Kurita hovering nearby out of the corner of his eye and stands to join the rest of the quarterbacks. Takami and Kid are both bent over a whiteboard; Marco's eyes are locked on the screen, dictating positions and plays to the rest of the group. Of the three, only Kid had decided to take on football as a career, and only part-time in the semi-pro league. Takami had started his residency, and Marco's studying fashion in earnest in preparation to take over after his mother (or he's preparing to take over after his father; no one's worked up the nerve to ask). 

Kiminari Harao is... silent, listening, learning-- Unsui'd been surprised to hear that he'd continued football in college. The other quarterback had improved quickly and drastically, probably as a consequence of losing Banba to Saikyo. He's not playing anymore, either. 

Unsui smiles mildly as he approaches the group. "Is this the part where I go, Quarterbacks will be quarterbacks?" 

"Hey, Unsui!" Kobanzame glances around him once, then waves. "I was-- _just_ about to say that." 

Marco flashes him a crooked grin, then motions for him to take an empty seat. "Some habits die hard, I'd say." 

"We should get Koizumi-san over here," Takami says, "but I don't think the Alexanders will let her go so easily." 

"We could give it a try during halftime." Unsui picks up a dry-erase marker and adds, "Hiruma probably wouldn't want to miss this, either." 

>>

The halftime plan goes awry. 

Not to say that any one of them had botched it, because quarterbacks as a rule are very good at setting up and carrying out Plans, but none of them had kept up well enough with coverage to guess that the halftime show would be so _interesting_. 

Sanzo's clutching his chest, nearly collapsed against Ikkyu's shoulder. He manages only one word for the entire third quarter ( _Beyoncé_...!) and it's been nearly six years since the Nagas in attendance have graduated-- girls aren't a new sight to any of them, anymore-- but even Unsui can't bring himself to budge from his seat. He'd looked around during a brief intermission, and saw Sakuraba alternately watching the show and watching Shin, trying to see if the other man's stoicism could hold up in the face of this onslaught (result: inconclusive-- stony-faced Shin had watched as intensely as he watches everything else, but didn't react). 

"I was gonna go to the bathroom," Kotaro mutters, "but I changed my mind." 

"Destiny's Child?" Akaba strums his guitar-- acoustic, "classical is the best after all." 

"I need a spray bottle," Julie deadpans. 

Suzuna's wedged her way into the spot next to Sena and she'd spent all of halftime smacking him at all the good parts-- which is to say that she spent an entire half hour leaving wicked bruises all over Sena's upper arm. 

The show winds down before any of them have the presence of mind to stand up and split up. Kid texts Hiruma; Unsui texts Sanzo, who quickly pulls Karin over. Hiruma kicks Agon on the shin as he passes, dodges a retaliatory swipe and cackles when he stands up and stalks him to the QB circle. Agon plants himself on the table behind Unsui, props his feet up on the back of his brother's chair and flicks his head with his dreads. 

"Okay," Unsui sighs, "we're not inviting Hiruma next time." 

"But honestly, this kind of point gap is right up his alley," Kid says, turning his marker in his hand, "maybe the 49ers can make a comeback." 

Both Kongo twins groan. 

"I don't even want to think about what Hiruma would do." 

"Slimy trick plays from a worthless piece of trash--" 

"You didn't complain when you were on his team--" 

"Aah?! Shut up, baldie." 

Hiruma whips a shotgun out of what seems like nowhere, cackles, pumps it, then fires a round of rubber shot into the ceiling. 

(Mamori shouts across the room, one hand held over her head to block the ricochet, broom materializing in her hand: _"Hi. Ru. Ma. Kun!!"_ ) 

"Aah, he's in trouble now," Agon drawls. 

(Sometime in his years at Saikyo, Agon had stopped talking about Mamori in terms of 'manager trash' on a bad day or 'trash with nice hips' on a good day and had even-- weirdly, terrifyingly-- come to regard her as part of that exclusive group he might label 'worth his attention'. It could be a result of that weird little friendship she'd struck up with Unsui, and how after they'd started talking, she would always remember his favorite food and drinks and stupid little habits and he's _not fucking conflating her with Unsui, okay_ who even fucking does that? 

The last time a freshman tried to cop a feel while she was bandaging his wrist, he'd almost ripped the little fucker's head off. Anezaki would hit him across the face with a _broom_ if he so much as made a comment about how she's gaining weight, but she's gonna let a little piece of shit touch her tits and get off with a stern scolding? 

_Fuck that noise_. 

She'd had to smack him across the back of the head yelling, _Agon-kun, he just put a hand on my shoulder!_ but Agon's pulled that enough to know exactly where his slimy little brain had been.) 

Hiruma snarls back, "Don't sound so happy about that, fucking dreads." 

>>

"Oni cool, the stadium just blacked out!" 

Yamabushi sighs. "There goes the Ravens' momentum." 

"How long do you think it'll take for the electricity to come back?" Toganoh scratches his nose, pulls an issue of Shonen Sunday out of his bag and shifts awkwardly in his seat. "'Cause I really gotta go." 

Kuroki nudges Jumonji on the arm. "Let's make a run for it, Kazu." 

"Yeah, okay, on three-- hey, come on, put down the Jump, we're going!" 

"Hah? Alright, I'm coming." Beat. "And it's not Jump anymore!" 

"Yeah, he started reading Sunday! It's just tankos for One Piece and Toriko now." 

"Alright, alright. My bad, put the Sunday down! Before it gets crowded." 

(Half an hour turns out to be the perfect amount of time to let anywhere between thirty to forty guys use the bathroom; half of them get lost, and the other half line up while staring enviously at the door to the womens' toilet, which is totally empty except for Suzuna and Mamori and Karin chatting happily in front of the sinks.) 

>>

Predictably, Hiruma laughs through the second half, the audience spottily populated with grinning ex-Devilbats, all on the edges of their seats. 

(Everyone else chews on their lips and mentally crosses their fingers and hopes to hell that on the list of things Hiruma can hold over their heads, a comeback win from the 49ers won't be one of them. Agon hasn't moved from his spot on the table behind Unsui, and he deals a light kick to the small of his brother's back every time the 49ers manage a first down and a hard one whenever they touchdown-- which culminates in a scuffle in the aisles sometime between the third and fourth quarters, which distracts everyone from the game.) 

It's a bittersweet relief when the game ends, Ravens still in the lead. Everyone likes watching an underdog win from behind-- but Hiruma hasn't been an underdog in a long time, though he still likes them, and it's petty and juvenile and so, _so high school_ but the collective sigh and dozens of silent arm-pumps (they are far too old to cheer) say everything. 

"Alright, we're getting some fucking lunch," Hiruma snaps. He flips open his phone and dials someone, drawling into the receiver, "I'm collecting." 

"Hey Sena, it's like even when he loses, Hiruma-senpai's still winning MAX, huh?" 

"Y-yeah..." 

"That was predictable," Kid says, running a hand over the stubble on his chin. Of course Hiruma would bet on the game and win, regardless of who he's privately rooting for. 

"I need to figure out how he does that," Achilles mutters to Heracles as the entire crowd troops out the door. Hiruma blows a sugarless bubble in his face. 

>>

After lunch, Hiruma sets the Puppy Bowl on replay in the lecture hall (which elicits delighted squeals from Suzuna and Julie and Sanzo-- Ikkyu manages to stifle his, with some difficulty). But Hiruma mutes the game and hooks an electric guitar up to an amp and the speakers (for Akaba), and puts in an order for dinner. Unsui hears him make an offhand comment to Musashi that it's good to have a catering service under his thumb. 

New decks of playing cards seem to magically disseminate themselves through the crowd and anyone not focused on watching puppies playing football separate themselves into groups of four and five. Unsui's managed to turn up a set of mahjong tiles and gets a game going near the back of the room (he's joined by Banba, Riku and Marco-- all four of them explaining the rules and technique to the crowd around them as they play). 

"Okay," Kuroki says, pulling a glass bottle out of a cooler filled with ice, "but we're definitely going to do some shots before dinner, right?"


End file.
